Broccoli is a vegetable from the cabbage/mustard green family with a massive flower head and saturated green color. It’s comparable to cauliflower in shape and size and has a strong cabbage like flavor and you can eat the stem part of the plant when cooked separately from the broccoli roses. I hate broccoli.
(shrimp with house-made chorizo sausage and chopped broccoli)
Filler Vegetable
You can be sure that broccoli is present on the average supermarket shelf. Sometimes I pick it up at the farmer’s market since guests keep asking me for it. When composing platters for buffets it’ll be there raw in the collage of other vegetables. Broccoli is at every party with its cabbagey self, served raw when it shouldn’t be in crudite or just as bad, often over cooked, boiled and smelly.
(a crate of broccoli at the farmers market)
Veggie Bargain
The plentiful availability fresh or frozen and the reasonable price make it a good fit for a budget meal – it fits the average household food bill. Frozen broccoli roses get even more concentrated in flavor. Customarily broccoli tends to be cooked too long and hence has a somewhat mushy texture and an intense flavor. Blah
My spouse’s family is Italian-American and broccoli is a staple. This summer when we’ve been dining together at the beach we’ve had a silent war over broccoli. They think my dislike of broccoli is an affront to their roots somehow. Amazing there is such passion over this vegetable. Anyway, I have been recently reacquainted with this flowery stand-by so here goes some cooking suggestions and a recipe!
(broccoli and leeks baked with Gruyere cheese)
Mouth smacking broccoli cooking techniques:
Steam broccoli for 30 seconds then toss with olive oil salt and pepper. Drape good Alpine cheese such as Gruyere over it, then put into an ovenproof dish and bake in a preheated oven at 360 degree Fahrenheit for 15-20 minutes – it’s delicious.
Chef’s Note: The freezing process tenderizes vegetables such as broccoli & asparagus already – so, if steamed, cooking time has to be adjusted. Generally a 30 second dip into boiling salted water makes broccoli perfectly palatable.
The following is a broccoli preparation which my family would cook too often when growing up - I still enjoy it.
(broccoli with brown butter and bread crumbs)
Broccoli “Noisette”
(recipe yields four portions)
1 broccoli head or 6 cups broccoli roses, 1-inch sized and stems trimmed off
1 cup bread crumbs such as panko bread crumbs
Kosher-style salt, to taste
fresh pepper grindings, to taste
1 stick butter
1. Cut broccoli into 1 inch-sized pieces then blanche in salted water
2. Put steamed broccoli into a dish and keep in a warm place
3. Melt butter in a pot (1-quart sized) then heat on medium heat setting until the butter turns to a golden brown color - this will brown the milk solids in the butter and give it a scent resembling hazelnuts hence the French “noisette” meaning nut butter. Season mixture with salt and pepper.
4. Spoon browned butter/bread crumb mixture over broccoli
Not in season
Not to get confused - broccoli is actually a cool-weather plant that does poorly in hot summer weather – recently many guest asked me for broccoli cooking suggestions.
